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Long Live the Confederation!

Adding a salute for the Amiga recommendation! I came to the system much later in life as I was trying to learn about the different ports of Wing Commander, and I'm the proud owner of an Amiga 4000 and a CD32 today. It has been so much fun learning how to get the machines up and running and then exploring this whole world I didn't know as a kid.

Rear Admiral

Adding a salute for the Amiga recommendation! I came to the system much later in life as I was trying to learn about the different ports of Wing Commander, and I'm the proud owner of an Amiga 4000 and a CD32 today. It has been so much fun learning how to get the machines up and running and then exploring this whole world I didn't know as a kid.

Actually, I fondly remember your post, well, sort of "series" on that. If I'm not mistaken, and indeed, this is all based on memories of crap that probably happened over 3 years ago... You had a few issues with your Amiga and had to send it to some caring people to fix it up? In my eyes, sort of having some issues with you for years, those were the best writings I had ever seen from you, and like you or not at the time, I appreciated your write up there. I'm not sure if I'm remembering right but I "sort of" had a feeling you were one of the several people that would respond to comments on the Amiga's music (others praising it) with simple comments like "as far as I'm concerned anyone that thinks that never heard the MT-32." - Which I'm actually about to write a topic on that in a second for its own thread. - Not directly at you, I mean that's a comment I've seen all over the internet, so I'm discussing it in general.

I'm not positive you were one of those people, but regardless I do have fond memories of your "journey" with getting your Amiga up and running. - Not sure if yours is a PAL or NTSC machine but in case it's PAL, next time you play try to boot that thing up in NTSC mode, that's how it should be played.

Anyway, "if" you were one of the many I've seen over the years who sort of slyly gave the Amiga music a kick, it means all the more that despite feeling that way, having probably at least heard the Amiga music on YouTube, perhaps emulated it; It means a lot that you HAD to have an Amiga, and you got it because of your love for Wing Commander.

I got an MT-32 for several reasons, but my love for Wing Commander and my hatred for FM was the final straw. I completely understand those that feel the MT-32 sounds better, they're both great so it's just a matter of preferences really, but I always grinded my teeth when someone would praise the Amiga's music but be slapped in a way by people who I can't imagine ever fully experienced the Amiga or the MT-32. And I'm sorry if I'm wrong about that, but I'm just saying with that in my mind I remember your Amiga post being a special one to read. You might still think the MT-32 sounds better, I can't knock that, but the fact that you understood how special the Amiga sounded, enough to get your own machine and deal with all the crap you had to deal with... As a big fan of the Amiga and Wing Commander, in my mind that was your finest moment, even before I got this chance to take another look at everything here.

Commodore

Quick-ish update: I've recently joined the Air Force Reserves to fly my ol' mistress on a part-time basis with the 343d Bomb Squadron.

What does that mean for you all? Well, in addition to augmenting active duty operations, we do a LOT of air shows and flybys. I'll post here once I get onto a sortie taking a jet somewhere that may be near anyone interested.

Also, for anyone that has enjoyed the "Planes" movies from Disney, you may be interested to know that about a year ago, their development team visited the 343d Bomb Squadron at Barksdale AFB, LA and recorded sounds and took note of the B-52 and actions/dialects/jargon of some of my fellow crewdogs. There may be a BUFF in the next movie (maybe) and the character may be based on an old flying buddy of mine.

Hope everyone is doing well, and as soon as I've completed my requal training, I'll have more SA (situational awareness) on air shows and the like.

***It's not like in WC4 where Blair gets picked up by Marshall and is flying solo in a Hellcat within minutes after being Inactive Ready Reserve for a while***

Attachments

Chief Petty Officer

I'm new around here, but have loved Wing Commander since no later than grade 1. I've played small bits and pieces of many of the sequels, but I'm really all about WC1. I'm actually about to start the Secret Missions for WC1 for what I think is the 2nd time, but maybe the 1st. I'll probably play WC2 for the first or 2nd time soon too, but that's time permitting.

I'm turning 32 in April and from (and still live in) Edmonton, Canada (population just south of 1 million. Think Wayne Gretzky winning a Stanley Cup? It only ever happened here!). I described a bit of my WC history in my post here, but basically my Dad got a copy of Wing Commander, along with photo copies of the manual from a friend when we got a 386 (in '91, maybe '92). I wasn't initially allowed to play it (fear I would ruin the joystick or computer from my Dad, and "violence" likely from my Mom), but in the coming months I wore them down and got limited, and then over time increased access to play the game. In spurts I played it (and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat) a lot over the next few years (and several replacement joysticks), and although I now have enjoyed a generous gaming history, Wing Commander would be my fav flight sim type game, and a top 10 game (maybe top 5) of mine all-time.

Big geek when it comes to LOTR, Game Of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek and kinda Zombies too. I'm not a true movie buff, but I'm not crazy far off. Same could be said for classic rock (my 1800 song playlist is pretty much world class). Musically, I enjoy most everything except most country music. I listen to rap, rock (mostly before 2006ish) and some metal. I enjoy hearing jazz, blues, electronica, classical and some pop music.

I suppose I could do a paragraph on fav movies and tv shows? Maybe just TV shows for now: Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead (although I'm behind the TV shows, I collect the comics in volumes), Star Trek (TNG & DS9 are my favs, but I've seen and enjoy Voyager and TOS), Archer, Rick And Morty, Letterkenny, Stranger Things, Black Mirror, The Big Bang Theory (again, I'm behind), The Strain, Suits, South Park (WAY behind), The Supernatural (behind), Scrubs, Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, Robot Chicken, The Wire, That 70's Show and Seinfeld would be at the top end of the list. Big Mouth only has 1 season, but it's one I'm liking

I like some board games, like Settlers Of Catan (+expansions), Ticket To Ride (Europe is my fav), Take-Off, Clue and Cards Against Humanity.

Because of WC, CYAC, Top Gun, Star Wars and a uncle + cousin who were aviation enthusiasts, I wanted to be a fighter pilot for a number of years (as well as an NHL hockey player, lol), but I was given that impression that my vision was not good enough to be a fighter pilot (I don't need glasses by any stretch, but I don't have 20/20 or better, either). I nerded out and learned a tonne (that's how we spell "ton' in Canada) about military aircraft, mostly fighters, and love that stuff to this day. I like to fly Raptors! I wish I had one in the Venice System!!!

I have a wife and toddler and I work ( currently part-time) as a financial adviser. I currently spend a lot of time home with my little girl, and that's very rewarding. I'm sports guy too, [all sports, but most especially hockey (shocker)]. Honestly of all things, I'm the biggest nerd when it comes to hockey (particularly when it relates to the Edmonton Oilers, Sidney Crosby or Team Canada).

I read most of the posts in this thread before mine, and it's neat how Wing Commander has brought us here and influenced our lives!

You can usually find a pic of me (and see me talking hockey) on my twitter @KevinJamieson86

Spaceman

My name is Chris and I've been lurking on this site since 2003 or thereabouts.

I'm 37 and live in Cape Town, South Africa. I got started on the Wing Commander series when my neighbours got copies of Privateer and Strike Commander in 1995. A few months later, I go my hands on an EA disc containing Wing Commander II; Strike Commander; Syndicate Plus and Ultima VIII. Since then I've also played Wing Commander III, IV, Prophecy, Academy, Armada and Privateer 2 repeatedly.

I've managed to burn through four joysticks in all that time: a classic Logitech WingMan; a Saitek Cyborg; a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 and a Logitech Force 3D Pro (this one died on me last year).

Chief Petty Officer

I'm new around here, but have loved Wing Commander since no later than grade 1. I've played small bits and pieces of many of the sequels, but I'm really all about WC1. I'm actually about to start the Secret Missions for WC1 for what I think is the 2nd time, but maybe the 1st. I'll probably play WC2 for the first or 2nd time soon too, but that's time permitting.

I'm turning 32 in April and from (and still live in) Edmonton, Canada (population just south of 1 million. Think Wayne Gretzky winning a Stanley Cup? It only ever happened here!). I described a bit of my WC history in my post here, but basically my Dad got a copy of Wing Commander, along with photo copies of the manual from a friend when we got a 386 (in '91, maybe '92). I wasn't initially allowed to play it (fear I would ruin the joystick or computer from my Dad, and "violence" likely from my Mom), but in the coming months I wore them down and got limited, and then over time increased access to play the game. In spurts I played it (and Chuck Yeager's Air Combat) a lot over the next few years (and several replacement joysticks), and although I now have enjoyed a generous gaming history, Wing Commander would be my fav flight sim type game, and a top 10 game (maybe top 5) of mine all-time.

Big geek when it comes to LOTR, Game Of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek and kinda Zombies too. I'm not a true movie buff, but I'm not crazy far off. Same could be said for classic rock (my 1800 song playlist is pretty much world class). Musically, I enjoy most everything except most country music. I listen to rap, rock (mostly before 2006ish) and some metal. I enjoy hearing jazz, blues, electronica, classical and some pop music.

I suppose I could do a paragraph on fav movies and tv shows? Maybe just TV shows for now: Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead (although I'm behind the TV shows, I collect the comics in volumes), Star Trek (TNG & DS9 are my favs, but I've seen and enjoy Voyager and TOS), Archer, Rick And Morty, Letterkenny, Stranger Things, Black Mirror, The Big Bang Theory (again, I'm behind), The Strain, Suits, South Park (WAY behind), The Supernatural (behind), Scrubs, Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, Robot Chicken, The Wire, That 70's Show and Seinfeld would be at the top end of the list. Big Mouth only has 1 season, but it's one I'm liking

I like some board games, like Settlers Of Catan (+expansions), Ticket To Ride (Europe is my fav), Take-Off, Clue and Cards Against Humanity.

Because of WC, CYAC, Top Gun, Star Wars and a uncle + cousin who were aviation enthusiasts, I wanted to be a fighter pilot for a number of years (as well as an NHL hockey player, lol), but I was given that impression that my vision was not good enough to be a fighter pilot (I don't need glasses by any stretch, but I don't have 20/20 or better, either). I nerded out and learned a tonne (that's how we spell "ton' in Canada) about military aircraft, mostly fighters, and love that stuff to this day. I like to fly Raptors! I wish I had one in the Venice System!!!

I have a wife and toddler and I work ( currently part-time) as a financial adviser. I currently spend a lot of time home with my little girl, and that's very rewarding. I'm sports guy too, [all sports, but most especially hockey (shocker)]. Honestly of all things, I'm the biggest nerd when it comes to hockey (particularly when it relates to the Edmonton Oilers, Sidney Crosby or Team Canada).

I read most of the posts in this thread before mine, and it's neat how Wing Commander has brought us here and influenced our lives!

You can usually find a pic of me (and see me talking hockey) on my twitter @KevinJamieson86

Commodore

My name is Chris and I've been lurking on this site since 2003 or thereabouts.

I'm 37 and live in Cape Town, South Africa. I got started on the Wing Commander series when my neighbours got copies of Privateer and Strike Commander in 1995. A few months later, I go my hands on an EA disc containing Wing Commander II; Strike Commander; Syndicate Plus and Ultima VIII. Since then I've also played Wing Commander III, IV, Prophecy, Academy, Armada and Privateer 2 repeatedly.

I've managed to burn through four joysticks in all that time: a classic Logitech WingMan; a Saitek Cyborg; a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 and a Logitech Force 3D Pro (this one died on me last year).

Spaceman

I can't express how happy I am to have found this site. My name is Derek and I am from Long Island, NY. I am 41, a single father, and obsessed with WC.

I first got Wing Commander 1 for Christmas along with my first PC, a 286 12mhz with a whopping 2mb of ram. I had never heard of WC but once I installed it and played, I was hooked until this day. I own all the titles again (minus the Privateer's.. I never really got into those) thanks to GOG. And thanks to this site I've got them all running well on my current PC. Even after all this time these games still hold up. I mean, yes I prefer WC 1 & 2 over the "3d" upgraded 3 & 4... but that's just me. I always loved games with hand drawn art. Which is probably why I was also obsessed with Sierra Online games like Police Quest and Dynamix's "Willy Beamish". I was also very into "Strike Commander" as well, though it didn't hold my interest as much as Wing Commander. I've also just recently purchased all of the novels and have started reading them in order. I'm only on the first book currently, "Freedom Flight", where Hobbes surrenders to the Confeds.

I love that there is a community out here with people who also love Wing Commander. Just to add, I've been a programmer for over 25 years and I also am pretty good with Photoshop and 3D Studios Max, which I started learning waaay back with 3Ds Max R1. So I would love to offer my services to anyone who could use it for sprite work or anything like that.

I hope this post makes sense It's 1am here and I'm so tired I feel like I'm rambling. I just spent about 3 hours reading thru the forum posts while I chopped up a blueprint for the "Rapier" ship, which I plan to create in 3DS Max. Anyway... just wanted to say hello!!

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator

Welcome aboard! It's great to see new fans continue to find us. I was also a huge Police Quest fan.

You're in for a treat with the novels - that's pretty exciting. I'd also encourage you to grab at least the first Privateer on GOG. There will probably be a holiday sale soon where it'll drop to $2 or so. It's pretty great too - as is Privateer 2 in its own crazy way.

Rear Admiral

First post ever! I created this account on the 19th of June 2004 and last logged in on the 29th of June 2004.
My account still works - kudos folks and even more surprised my memory for passwords still works after all this time.

I'll have spent a big chunk of time playing the WC Series BITD when I probably should have been using that PC for studying more productive things instead. All inspired to get reborn and give it a long overdue crack again.

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator

First post ever! I created this account on the 19th of June 2004 and last logged in on the 29th of June 2004.
My account still works - kudos folks and even more surprised my memory for passwords still works after all this time.

Commodore

Welcome aboard!! I mean....there is sooo much stuff here to sift through but I would like to recommend you play some of the fan games on here. There has been great talent and teamwork here that ended with some really fun games.

Rear Admiral

Welcome aboard!! I mean....there is sooo much stuff here to sift through but I would like to recommend you play some of the fan games on here. There has been great talent and teamwork here that ended with some really fun games.

Ensign

Like LennonZA (spaceman) I'm also from South Africa but not Cape Town, I'm originally from Pretoria and currently live in a smaller town just outside of Johannesburg, I just turned 42

I was the average PC and gamer geek, collecting games and programs for my 286-16mhz around 1990, I think it might have been a 386 I remember upgrading...I also liked Star Wars and was lucky in the early 80's to get some exposure, back in those days we were limited to news and media, only in magazines, some friends dads had Zx Spectum or Commodore64, I think my interest really started there.

Back to 1990,
I visited a friend of mine that always got hold of the latest and coolest games, he showed me Wing Commander and I really liked the intro music and the asteroid field in the intro, I played it with the keyboard and which I could try it on my joystick, I went back a few times just to play Wing Commander, I was only 12-13 years old, soon one of my best friends got the game also and he lend it to me so I can play it through, man that was cool and 'wow, one of the best games ever'

I had a holiday job about 2 to 3 years later and bought me a Sound Blaster card and I got Wing Commander 2 included on a cd with some other games, Creative Labs distributed some free games with their products, I obtained Privateer 1 and Wing Commander Academy also like this and then I was hooked, Privateer was probably the best game for me and I later got Privateer 2 as a gift, man I enjoyed that game, so over the years growing up these games always stayed special to me and as you know, even now, I remember many cool games from that era like Sierra's quest games and others like Mean Streets and Rise of the dragon.

Soon I got news that Wing Commander 3 was released and another buddy got hold of it in mid 1994, I did not even own a CD-ROM yet, those with the case that you remove to place the cd into, one and two speed CD-ROM's, haha, so I cycled with my BMX to his house and he showed me the game, ' wow it is in high res' was the first thing I noticed and not one but four Cd game!!! It was amazing!! I remember the game loaded real slow to start a mission on his 486 or was it a Pentium? No I think it was a 486DX2 66 or DX4 - 100mhz hahaha !!!

He also had Rise of the Robots and Wing Commander Armada soon after which I really liked !

A year or so later I developed an interest for PC's and on occasion I helped building PC's at a local PC shop, installing software and games for clients, it was lots of fun and with the money I saved working I would upgrade my own PC I remember adding a Sound Blaster 16 ASP or Awe32 or so for my own PC, I worked and studied luckily I could stay with my parents for a while after my senior year back in 1996, around then I bought WC4 and since I missed out on WC3 - I bought it just after as a classic game, around the time Prophecy appeared on the shelves.

I did not studied IT but Electrical Engineering part time and couching, today I do training and development practices for engineering trades etc, but in my spare time I kept building PC's for gamers etc, but I put that aside lately.

Came across the CIC many moons ago, propably around 1997/98...

Got married in 2005 and I still enjoy gaming and Wing Commander, really glad it did not die out, always interested in mods and news.

Ensign

1st Lieutenant

Matthew here from the frozen wastelands of Hoth Montreal, Canada. My first real game was wing commander 1. I remember being heartbroken with wing2 came out and the sales rep telling me all my friends died. I also got wing2 for christmas and was just staring at the disks waiting for the party to end. I bought every pc wing game (several times) and have logged way to many hours in priv, beating the game in my favorite ship. It took me a while to jump to the FMV train, I owned a Pentium 2 at the time, so I never experienced the "load" times. On AGWC and wingnut I was Arugula. I contributed some ships to vegastrike and as a parody of Cpl_Hellcat's nick, I changed mine to Rear_Admiral_Tarsus.

I am currently an open source developer working on software to improve total system speeds and show off bottlenecks.